Kiribati

From the article: “So concerns about climate change are felt very acutely here.
Though estimates are rough, scientists predict average sea levels could rise
as much as 3 feet by the end of the century owing to global warming.”

Note that “climate change” is
not what’s being felt, it is “concerns”.

Sea levels could rise as much
as 3 feet by the end of the century. No realistic range is given (or
indication of how “rough” the estimates are, just an extreme. “Kiribatian President Anote Tong said the rising sea could
"ultimately lead to the demise of island countries like Kiribati."
According to Tong, it could happen within 50 years.”

The Australian government
operates a sea level station in Kiribati. The following figure shows the last
available report (through mid-2009) showing sea level anomalies for 1993
through June 2009. [http://www-cluster.bom.gov.au/ntc/IDO60102/IDO60102.2009_1.pdf]
Each grid line is 0.1 m on the vertical scale with the zero being the line
above which positive anomalies are colored red and negative anomalies, blue.

“Scientists
have been surprised by the findings, which show that some islands have grown
by almost one-third over the past 60 years. Among the island chains to have
increased in land area are Tuvalu and neighbouring Kiribati … In Kiribati,
the three of the most densely populated islands, Betio, Bairiki and Nanikai,
also grew by between 12.5 and 30 per cent. … "Eighty per cent of the
islands we've looked at have either remained about the same or, in fact, got
larger.” "We've now got evidence the physical foundations of these
islands will still be there in 100 years," he told New Scientist
magazine. “It has long been thought that as the sea level goes up, islands
will sit there and drown. But they won't," Professor Kench said.”

NPR has links to several other
articles on Kiribati – none of which mention the studies showing that coral
atolls actually grow as the sea rises, but all of them repeat the global
warming mantra.

Collision of Faiths

NPR: “"Saying we're going to be under the water,
that I don't believe," Tito [former Kiribati President] says."Because people
belong to God, and God is not so silly to allow people to perish just like
that." Tito is not alone in his views. Of the more than 90,000 people
counted in Kiribati's last census, a mere 23 said they did not belong to a
church. … As a result, many are torn between what they hear from scientists
and what they read in the Bible.”

NPR considers belief in the
Bible incompatible with accepting global warming alarmism. But NPR’s belief
in the imminent demise of these islands while ignoring the actual science
smacks of that competing religion – environmentalism.

NPR is reminiscent of Tiny Tim
as he sings “The ice caps
are melting …the tide is rushing in … all the world is drowning to wash away
the sin” (forerunner of the green religion).